1. Field of The Invention
This invention relates to shearing machinery employed in a water environment. More particularly, it refers to a three shaft apparatus having on each of two shafts a hooked cutter blade and on the other shaft, a shearing cutter with two knife edges.
2. Description of The Prior Art
Currently employed commercial grinding and shearing machines rip up water borne debris such as wood or rags with a two shaft cutting system with each cutter blade turning towards each other and cutting in a scissors type action. A machine used to shred paper having this two shaft configuration is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,194,698. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,702,422 and 4,046,324 also disclose two shaft grinders. Although the grinding and shearing machines disclosed in these patents work effectively to cut debris, they suffer from periodic jamming because cloth strips become entangled around the cutting blades and the machines cannot generate enough torque to rip free. This necessitates wasted down time to clean the cutting blades. A grinding and shearing machine is needed which will cut wet rags or other waste cloth without jamming.